Beyond the search process – Exploring group members’ information behavior in context

This paper reports on the findings from a longitudinal case study exploring Kuhlthau’s information search process (ISP)-model in a group based academic setting. The research focus is on group members’ activities and cognitive and emotional experiences during the task process of writing an assignment. It is investigated if group members’ information behavior differ from the individual information seeker in the ISP-model and to what extent this behavior is influenced by contextual (work task) and social (group work) factors. Three groups of LIS students were followed during a 14 weeks period in 2004/2005 (10 participants). Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, such as demographic surveys, process surveys, diaries and interviews. Similarities in behavior were found between group members and the individual in Kuhlthau’s ISP-model with regard to the general stages of information seeking, the cognitive pattern associated with focus formulation and the tendency towards an increase in writing activities while searching activities decreased. Differences in behavior were also found, which were associated with contextual and social factors beyond the mere search process. It is concluded that the ISP-model does not fully comply with group members’ problem solving process and the involved information seeking behavior. Further, complex academic problem solving seems to be even more complex when it is performed in a group based setting. The study contributes with a new conceptual understanding of students’ behavior in small groups.     

The use of information by environmental planners: A qualitative study using Grounded Theory methodology

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of information by environmental planners. The study used the Grounded Theory method to develop a theoretical model that explains the reasons for using information and the factors that motivate such use. Forty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted in workplace environments to collect data on the way the respondents used information in projects that they had done before. Data were analysed in accordance with the Grounded Theory techniques of constant comparison. The study found that the planner’s perceptions of: their own competences, resistance of the stakeholders, role requirement; and the impressions on the enabling effect of the information environment drive the self-empowerment behaviour of the planners. This behaviour is characterised by actions involving information acquisition, packaging as well as giving information to stakeholders during the facilitation of the environmental planning process. The experiential knowledge levels of individuals enhance the self-empowerment behaviour exhibited by environmental planners. Based on the informational power derived from the self-empowerment activities, the planners select a strategy for participation that they deem appropriate for an environmental planning project, consequently facilitating the process to develop widely accepted environmental plans.     

User relevance criteria choices and the information search process

Relevance judgments occur within an information search process, where time, context and situation can impact the judgments. The determination of relevance is dependent on a number of factors and variables which include the criteria used to determine relevance. The relevance judgment process and the criteria used to make those judgments are manifestations of the cognitive changes which occur during the information search process.Understanding why these relevance criteria choices are made, and how they vary over the information search process can provide important information about the dynamic relevance judgment process. This information can be used to guide the development of more adaptive information retrieval systems which respond to the cognitive changes of users during the information search process.The research data analyzed here was collected in two separate studies which examined a subject’s relevance judgment over an information search process. Statistical analysis was used to examine these results and determine if there were relationships between criteria selections, relevance judgments, and the subject’s progression through the information search process. Findings confirm and extend findings of previous studies, providing strong statistical evidence of an association between the information search process and the choices of relevance criteria by users, and identifying specific changes in the user preferences for specific criteria over the course of the information search process.     

Managing complex engineering projects: What can we learn from the evolving digital footprint?

The challenges of managing large complex engineering projects, such as those involving the design of infrastructure, aerospace and industrial systems; are widely acknowledged. While there exists a mature set of project management tools and methods, many of today's projects overrun in terms of both time and cost. Existing literature attributes these overruns to factors such as: unforeseen dependencies, a lack of understanding, late changes, poor communication, limited resource availability (inc. personnel), incomplete data and aspects of culture and planning. Fundamental to overcoming these factors belies the challenge of how management information relating to them can be provided, and done so in a cost eff ;ective manner. Motivated by this challenge, recent research has demonstrated how management information can be automatically generated from the evolving digital footprint of an engineering project, which encompasses a broad range of data types and sources. In contrast to existing work that reports the generation, verification and application of methods for generating management information, this paper reviews all the reported methods to appraise the scope of management information that can be automatically generated from the digital footprint. In so doing, the paper presents a reference model for the generation of managerial information from the digital footprint, an appraisal of 27 methods, and a critical reflection of the scope and generalisability of data-driven project management methods. Key findings from the appraisal include the role of email in providing insights into potential issues, the role of computer models in automatically eliciting process and product dependencies, and the role of project documentation in assessing project norms. The critical reflection also raises issues such as privacy, highlights the enabling technologies, and presents opportunities for new Business Intelligence tools that are based on real-time monitoring and analysis of digital footprints.     

An enterprise architecture framework for electronic requirements information management

Managing information about client requirements effectively can contribute to improve the quality of built facilities, and their related services. However, the process has been challenging to construction project management often resulting in failed projects. This necessitates an overwhelming need for a better approach. This paper presents a novel enterprise architecture framework for managing information about client requirements across all phases of a construction project and through-life of a built facility. The Integrated electronic Requirements Information Management Framework (eRIM) defines an information-centric, and process and service-oriented enterprise architecture approach to requirements management. It also describes how Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/Information Systems (IS) can support this information management. In developing the framework, findings from three case study projects were collated through observations, a questionnaire and interviews of construction practitioners. It is concluded that when implemented and incorporated in the management of construction projects, the eRIM architecture framework can potentially contribute towards improved and more efficient and effective management of client requirements across all stages of a project. Further work is outlined to operationalize the framework.     

Teachers’ perspectives and contextual dimensions to guide the design of N.C. history learning objects and ontology

This paper describes an ongoing research project that involves the study of teachers’ information seeking behaviors, needs and practices in relation to a collection of primary source materials available through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Library’s digital library Documenting the American South (DocSouth). By gaining an in-depth understanding of the needs and wants of teachers in the context of their work, we hope to build a collection of learning objects and a domain ontology applied to the collection to improve teachers’ access to the cultural heritage materials and to facilitate their actual use in the classroom.     

信息技术外包的项目管理策略研究

服务外包产业是现代高端服务业的重要组成部分,其中的信息技术外包往往涉及的业务领域和技术领域很广,业务和技术方面的差异,决定了项目生命周期组织方式、项目规模和周期差异性的不同,这些项目间差异性,给信息技术外包项目规范化带来了极大的复杂性。项目管理工作应贯穿整个信息技术外包项目的全过程,是项目成功实施、执行、并提供高质量、可靠服务的有利保证。     

图书馆网络化管理信息系统安全性问题研究

图书馆网络化管理信息系统安全性问题是摆在图书馆管理者面前的重要问题。本文通过对系统常见的以及潜在的安全性问题进行全面的分析研究，提出解决安全性问题的有效手段，以便系统在图书馆信息管理与服务过程中的高效运用。     

Semantic APIs: Scaling up towards the Semantic Web

Web information retrieval and knowledge discovery are undergoing changes. The size of the Web and the heterogeneity of web pages generate new challenges in meeting user needs. This paper investigates the different methods deployed that add semantics to web content: semantic tagging and semantic APIs. The research carried out investigates existing systems in each category, outlining their primary features and functionality. It then proposes a framework for the evaluation of semantic tagging based on the main requirements for information discovery and recommends a number of comparative assessments, ranging from basic product information and requirements’ analysis to the evaluation of the APIs information modelling functionality.     

A view from the coal face: UK research student perceptions of successful and unsuccessful collaborative projects

Studies of the effectiveness of collaborative research partnerships between industrial and academic institutions rarely focus on understanding success as perceived by those involved in the research activities. We explore the extent to which three classes of potential success factor are correlated with perceived collaborative research success; supervisor characteristics, project management characteristics, and communication characteristics. Findings are based on a questionnaire-based survey of 348 doctoral students supported by the UK Research Councils’ Engineering Doctorate (EngD) and Co-operative Awards in Science & Engineering (CASE) schemes. Conclusions describe how the experience of collaboration as a process influences and how successful students consider the collaboration to be for themselves and the collaborating institutions.     

中国科技计划项目绩效管理研究综述

对中国科技计划项目绩效管理体系构建、评价指标以及评价方法等方面进行回顾与评述,结果发现:部分学者对"绩效管理"与"绩效评价"的概念存在混淆的情况;绩效管理研究热度与政府相关政策出台具有一定的相关性;有关绩效评价指标体系与评价方法的研究较为丰富.结合中国科技计划项目绩效管理实践指出,目前相关研究存在忽视对项目实施过程绩效管理、对效应类指标研究较为薄弱、过于依赖定性评价造成理论与实践部分脱节等不足.     

如何利用Internet进行专题信息检索

Internet上庞大的信息量令所有人为之倾心,然而其信息的零乱性也使所有Internet的用户感到头痛,如何能在Internet上较快找到专题信息是目前最困扰科技工作者和专业人士的难题,本文作者根据自已的实验经验,就怎样利用Web查找专题信息为读者提供一些有效的方法。     

基于BIM的EPC项目信息价值链增值研究

依据波特价值链理论,从信息价值对EPC项目增值的影响角度出发,建立建筑工程领域EPC项目的信息价值链模型,深入分析信息在自身创造价值的同时促进价值链各环节改善而带来的价值增值,并在理论上进行了定量分析。在以上深入分析的基础上,利用BIM对EPC项目信息价值链进行改进,通过改善整合信息价值链的信息,达到项目价值增值的目的。     

论赫伯特·西蒙对归纳问题的认知解答

西蒙对归纳问题的思考始于科学发现逻辑的探讨。最初,他试图将归纳法排除在科学发现逻辑之外,但未获成功。在以机器发现方法研究科学发现逻辑的过程中,西蒙在归纳问题上发生了表征转变,将归纳法合理性的辩护从逻辑角度转到认知视角上来。基于批判现代经验论的温和自然主义立场,西蒙从归纳的似然性和人类认知理性的有限性两个方面抛弃了归纳合理性逻辑辩护的认识论传统,提供了归纳问题的认知解答。     

Relationships between categories of relevance criteria and stage in task completion

The process of information seeking involves a varied set of tasks and interactions. Exactly how the information seeker judges the relevance of what is retrieved has been a renewed area of interest in information retrieval studies. Various studies have identified facets or categories of relevance which go beyond simple topical relevance, and there has been some recent research on how these multi-dimensional concepts of relevance relate to the information seeking process. This study extends research on the relationship between multi-dimensional user relevance assignments and stage in the process of completing a task. Our results concur with and add detail to previous studies and suggest that users consistently identify relevance criteria beyond topical relevance. Our results also find a statistically significant relationship between the users’ stage in the search process and relevance categories chosen using the convenience sample chosen for this study.     

新型高校科研项目层级管理分析

顺应时代潮流建立起来的新型高校取得了飞速的发展，而新型高校科研管理方面面临诸多挑战，新问题的出现和解决对项目管理也提出了新的要求。如何构建一个完善的层级管理体系来促进高校的人才培养和团队建设，使得项目管理遵循科研规律，提升新型高校在科研人才培养、团队建设的能力和科研绩效产出是我们重点关注的问题。     

新型高校科研项目层级管理分析

顺应时代潮流建立起来的新型高校取得了飞速的发展,而新型高校科研管理方面面临诸多挑战,新问题的出现和解决对项目管理也提出了新的要求。如何构建一个完善的层级管理体系来促进高校的人才培养和团队建设,使得项目管理遵循科研规律,提升新型高校在科研人才培养、团队建设的能力和科研绩效产出是我们重点关注的问题。     

应用Web新技术构建科技计划项目监理业务信息系统综述

科技计划项目监理是监控项目实施的必要手段,也是绩效评价的信息基础,近年来其重要性日益得到了科技管理部门和广大科技工作者的广泛共识。因此,应用Web新技术构建一个在线的广西科技计划项目监理业务信息系统平台,这对于创新原有科技项目管理工作流程十分重要。文章就国内外科技计划项目监理及信息系统的建设与监理业务的发展现状,及其构建广西科技计划项目监理业务信息系统平台的研究进展展开讨论,分析应用中所出现的一些问题,探讨解决问题的思路和方法。     

Specifics of information retrieval for young users: A survey

In this paper, we present the state of the art in the field of information retrieval that is relevant for understanding how to design information retrieval systems for children. We describe basic theories of human development to explain the specifics of young users, i.e., their cognitive skills, fine motor skills, knowledge, memory and emotional states in so far as they differ from those of adults. We derive the implications these differences have on the design of information retrieval systems for children. Furthermore, we summarize the main findings about children’s search behavior from multiple user studies. These findings are important to understand children’s information needs, their search strategies and usage of information retrieval systems. We also identify several weaknesses of previous user studies about children’s information-seeking behavior. Guided by the findings of these user studies, we describe challenges for the design of information retrieval systems for young users. We give an overview of algorithms and user interface concepts. We also describe existing information retrieval systems for children, in specific web search engines and digital libraries. We conclude with a discussion of open issues and directions for further research. The survey provided in this paper is important both for designers of information retrieval systems for young users as well as for researchers who start working in this field.     

技术学习对新产品开发结果的影响研究

新兴市场的创新状况在很大程度上决定于该市场中优秀跨国公司(MNCs)的技术学习成熟度。文章从信息加工的角度,对9家跨国公司的105个项目团队进行分析,探讨这些团队或其内部技术学习(知识获取,信息发布,信息理解与组织记忆)对新产品开发(NPD)结果(项目成功,开发速度与产品适时进入市场)的影响。研究结果显示,技术学习的四种指标中,只有组织记忆与新产品开发结果无直接关联。通过区分项目的复杂程度,文章进一步分析上述影响关系。文章认为,信息解释与组织记忆有助于低复杂程度项目的成功。相反,对于高复杂程度项目而言,产品的开发速度取决于组织记忆。